Entry Version:

This is the English version of this article translated by Patrick Hogan. The original Italian version was written by Fausto Montana and first published on 23/09/2004.

Qui si trova la versione italiana della scheda.

Grammarian:

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Biography:

The brief biographical entry in the Suda ⁵⁴²¹ lexicon ( α 4014) does not go further than describing Valerius Harpocration as an Alexandrian rhetorician and mentioning the title of two of his works. Citations present in the Λέξεις⁵⁴²² ( Dionysius son of Tryphon⁵⁴²³ in Γ 18⁵⁴²⁴ and Ε 137⁵⁴²⁵; Dionysius of Halicarnassus⁵⁴²⁶ in Ε 51⁵⁴²⁷) fix the Augustan⁵⁴²⁸ age as a terminus post quem, while a terminus ante quem is established by P. Rylands 532⁵⁴²⁹, from the end of the 2^nd or the beginning of the 3^rd c. CE; it preserves parts of the Λέξεις Κ 25⁵⁴³⁰, 26⁵⁴³¹, 32⁵⁴³², 33⁵⁴³³. More important chronological and biographical elements are furnished by a papyrus letter of the 2^nd c. CE ( P.Oxy. 2192, col. II, 28-45): the sender orders the acquisition of books according to the advice of Harpocration, who appears to be an expert for the library of Pollio (ἐν τοῖς Πωλίωνος βιβλίοις), and he cites οἱ περὶ Διόδωρον. The two persons are identified as the Atticist⁵⁴³⁴ Valerius Pollio⁵⁴³⁵ and his son Valerius Diodorus (cf. Sud. π 2166⁵⁴³⁷; δ 1150⁵⁴³⁸), who were Alexandrian grammarians active in the age of Hadrian⁵⁴³⁹. Finally, it is customary to identify as our Harpocration the one named in the Historia Augusta ⁵⁴⁴⁰ among the teachers of the emperor Lucius Verus (Hist. Aug. Ver. 2, 5).

Of the two works mentioned by the Suda, the Ἀνθηρῶν συναγωγή, which is entirely lost, probably constituted an anthology of passages of oratorical exempla of the florid style, i.e., of the type attested by Apuleius’⁵⁴⁴¹ Florida ⁵⁴⁴².

The Λέξεις τῶν δέκα ῥητόρων have survived in a plenior redaction and in an epitome. The first has been transmitted in more than twenty manuscripts, most not predating the 15^th c., and is the product, as it appears, of substantial interpolations made around 1300 CE by Manuel Moschopoulos⁵⁴⁴³ (J.J. Keaney, Moschopoulos and Harpocration, “TAPhA” 100 [1969], pp. 201-207). The epitomized redaction, which is preserved by four manuscript witnesses and in excerpta copied in the ms. Baroccianus 50⁵⁴⁴⁴ (J.A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, II, Oxford 1835 [photog. repr. Amsterdam 1963], pp. 488-500), was created before Photius’⁵⁴⁴⁵ Lexicon ⁵⁴⁴⁶, which made use of it (though indirectly: Ch. Theodoridis, Photii Patriarchae Lexicon, I, Berlin-New York 1982, pp. LXXII-LXXIII⁵⁴⁴⁷). Finally, only a few fragments are read in P. Rylands 532 mentioned above. The Λέξεις collect and explain entries drawn from the ten Attic orators of the Hellenistic canon and belong to the lexicographical tradition which included, for example, also the lost ἐξήγησις τῶν ζητουμένων παρὰ τοῖς ι´ ῥήτορσιν of the aforementioned Valerius Diodorus. The lexicon is not intended to furnish models of Atticism but to assist in the reading of the oratorical texts and makes use of a rich and varied store of literary and learned sources. The lemmata are arranged in a rigorously and completely alphabetical order according to a criterion that appears to have been established in the course of the 2^nd c. CE (cf. Galen’s ⁵⁴⁴⁸ Τῶν Ἱπποκράτους γλωσσῶν ἐξήγησις⁵⁴⁴⁹). The influence of the Λέξεις in later lexicographical and exegetical literature beyond the end of the Byzantine age (e.g. Marcos Musuros) is quite pervasive.

Bibliography:

Editions:

Harpocrationis Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos, ed. W. Dindorf, Oxford 1853 (repr. Groningen 1969).

Harpocration, Lexeis of the ten Orators, ed. by J.J. Keaney, Amsterdam 1991.

Studies:

A. Schäfer, Citate bei Harpokration, «JKPh» 101 (1870), pp. 523-528.

C.G. Cobet, De locis quibusdam apud Harpocrationem, in Collectanea critica quibus continentur observationes criticae in scriptores Graecos, Lugduni Batavorum 1878, pp. 168-184.

F. von Stojentin, Die grammateis und der antigrapheus des Rathes bei Pollux und Harpokration, «JKPh» 121 (1880), pp. 189-202.

P.P. Dobree, In Harpocrationem, in Adversaria. 3, Miscellaneae observationes ad varios scriptores Graecos, London 1883, pp. 25-30.

G. Kalkoff, De codicibus epitomes harpocrationeae, Diss. Halle 1887.

G. Kaibel, Sententiarum liber VII, «Hermes» 30 (1895), p. 439.

W. von Christ, W. Schmid, O. Stählin, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur, 1-8, München 1912-1948 (repr. 1959-1964), 2, 2, pp. 876-877.

H. Schultz, Harpokration (n. 5), RE 7, 2 (1912), 2412-2416.

J.E. Sandys, A history of classical scholarship. 1: From the sixth century B.C. to the end of the Middle ages, 3^rd ed., Cambridge 1920 (1^st ed. 1903), pp. 325ff.

M. Stephan, Harpokration, RE Suppl. 7 (1935), 102ff.

P.J. Reimer, Zur dike bebaioseos bei Harpokration, «Mnemosyne» 9 (1941), pp. 153-156.

B. Hemmerdinger, Les papyrus et la datation d’Harpocration, «REG» 72 (1959), pp. 107-109.

M. Naoumides, The papyrus of the Lexicon of Harpocration, «TAPhA» 92 (1961), pp. 384-388.

R.E. Wycherley, Archaia Agora, «Phoenix» 20 (1966), pp. 285-293.

H. Gärtner, Harpokration (n. 2), Kl.P. 2 (1967), 944.

J.J. Keaney, New fragments of Greek authors in codex Marc. Gr. 444, «TAPhA» 98 (1967), pp. 205-219.

J.J. Keaney, Corrupt book numbers in the Lexicon of Harpocration, «CPh» 63 (1968), pp. 281-283.

J.J. Keaney, Moschopoulos and Harpocration, «TAPhA» 100 (1969), pp. 201-207.

Z. Ritoók, Die Homeriden, «AAntHung» 18 (1970), pp. 1-29.

J.J. Keaney, The text of Androtion F 6 and the origin of ostracism, «Historia» 19 (1970), pp. 1-11.

J.J. Keaney, Two emendations in Harpocration, «CR» 20 (1970), pp. 139-140.

J.J. Keaney, Moschopulea, «ByzZ» 64 (1971), pp. 303-321.

K. Meister, Zum Zeitpunkt der Einführung des Ostrakismos, «Chiron» 1 (1971), pp. 85-88.

J.J. Keaney, Alphabetization in Harpocration’s Lexicon, «GRBS» 14 (1973), pp. 415-423.

G. Fanan, Il lessico del P. Oxy. 1012, «SCO» 26 (1977), pp. 187-248.

S.L. Radt, Hipponax fr. 51 West und Harpokration s. v. malkiomen, «Mnemosyne» 31 (1978), pp. 414-415.

J.J. Keaney, John Lascaris and Harpocration, «GRBS» 23 (1982), pp. 93-95.

M.L. West, Magnus and Marcellinus. Unnoticed acrostics in the Cyranides, «CQ» 32 (1982), pp. 480-481.

W.E. Thompson, Harpokration on gennetai, «Hermes» 111 (1983), pp. 118-121.

I.C. Cunningham, Harpocration and the Synagoge, «GRBS» 27 (1986), pp. 205-221.

E. Degani, Lessicografi, in Dizionario degli scrittori greci e latini, 2, dir. da F. della Corte, Milano, 1988, pp. 1169-1189, esp. p. 1179.

J. Letrouit, Passages parallèles chez Athénée et Harpocration, «Maia» 41 (1989), p. 123.

V. Casadio, Hyperid, fragm. neglectum?, «MCr» 25-28 (1990-1993), pp. 277-278.

M. Gagarin, Bouleusis in Athenian homicide law, in Symposion 1988: Vorträge zur griechischen und hellenistischen Rechtsgeschichte: Siena-Pisa, 6.-8. Juni 1988) / Comunicazioni sul diritto greco ed ellenistico: (Siena-Pisa, 6-8 giunio 1988), hrsg. von G. Nenci und G. Thür, ‘Akten der Ges. für Griech. und Hellen. Rechts-Gesch.’ 7, Köln 1990, pp. 81-99.

K.H. Kinzl, Androtion’s dating of ostrakismos, «AHB» 5 (1991), pp. 109-112.

K.H. Kinzl, AP 22. 4: the sole source of Harpokration on the ostrakismos of Hipparkhos, son of Kharmos, «Klio» 73 (1991), pp. 28-45.

F. Montanari, L'erudizione, la filologia e la grammatica, in Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica. 1: La produzione e la circolazione del testo (2: L'Ellenismo), dir. da G. Cambiano, L. Canfora, D. Lanza, Roma 1993, pp. 235-281, esp. p. 280.

R. Otranto, «QS» 38 (1993), pp. 225-231 (review of Keaney, Harp. Lex., 1991).

E. Rebuffat, Teopompo e le Elleniche di Ossirinco, «Orpheus» 14 (1993), pp. 109-124.

S.B. Jackson, Callimachus, Ister and a scapegoat, «LCM» 19, 9-10 (1994), pp. 132-135.

J.J. Keaney, The earliest Byzantine witnesses to Harpocration (pl.), «RHT» 25 (1995), pp. 255-257.

J.J. Keaney, Androtion F 6 and methodology, «Klio» 77 (1995), pp. 126-131.

F. Montana, Su due citazioni dell’Athenaion Politeia aristotelica in scholia recentiora ad Aristofane, «ASNP» 4° s. 1, 2 (1996), pp. 711-725.

C.A. Gibson, P. Bero. Inv. 5008, Didymus, and Harpocration reconsidered, «CPh» 92 4 (1997), pp. 375-381.

D. Whitehead, Harpocrationiana, «Eikasmos» 8 (1997), pp. 157-164.

B. Dreyer, Pappos Lykourgos o nomothetes, «ZPE» 121 (1998), pp. 33-34.

R. Tosi, Harpokration (n. 2), N.P. 5 (1998), 164-165.

D. Whitehead, Harpocrationianis addenda, «Eikasmos» 9 (1998), pp. 209-212.

G. Lentini, Una nota sulla glossa Theoriká di Arpocrazione (Agirrio, gli stratiotiká e il theorikón), «ASNP» 4° s. 5, 1 (2000), pp. 247-250.

R. Di Cesare, Un lemma di Arpocrazione e la Stoa delle Erme ad Atene, «PP» 57 N° 325 (2002), pp. 303-307.

Sources:

Source 1: Hist. Aug. Ver. 2, 5

audivit Scaurinum grammaticum Latinum, Scauri filium, qui grammaticus Hadriani fuit, Graecos Telephum atque Hephaestionem, Harpocrationem, rhetores Apollonium, Celerem Caninium et Herodem Atticum, Latinum Cornelium Frontonem, philosophos Apollonium et Sextum. 6 Hos omnes amavit unice, atque ab his in vicem dilectus est, nec tamen ingeniosus ad litteras.

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Source 2: P.Oxy. 2192, col. II, 28–45 (2° sec. d.C.)

   Ὑψικράτους τῶν κωμωι-

   δουμένων ς̄ ζ̅ ποιή-

30   σας μοι πέμψον. φησὶ γὰρ

    Ἁρποκρατίων ἐν τοῖς

   Πωλίωνος αὐτὰ βιβλί-

   οις εἶναι. εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους

   αὐτὰ ἐσχηκέναι. καὶ λόγω̣ι

35   ἐ̣π̣ιτο̣μὰς τῶν Θερσαγόρου

   τῶν τραγικῶν μύθων ἔχει.

   ἔχει δὲ αὐτὰ Δημήτριος ὁ βυβλιοπώλης,

   ὡς φησὶν Ἁρποκρατίων . ἐπέσταλκα Ἀπολ-

   ωνίδηι πέμψαι μοι ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν

   βιβλίων τιν[ὰ ἅ]περ παρ’ αὐτοῦ εἴση̣

   Σ̣ε̣[λ]εύκου δι[ὰ] τ̣ῶν χρόνων [....] ἐὰν εὑ-

   ρίσκῃς μεθ’ ἃ ἐγὼ κέκτημαι ποιήσα[ς]

   μο[ι] πέμψον. ἔχουσι δὲ `καίʹ οἱ περὶ Διό-

   δωρ[ον] ὧν οὐ κέκτημαί τιν̣α.

45   ] Δ̣ιονυς̣[ι]ο̣ [....] . ι̣ν

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Source 3: Sud. α 4014

Ἁρποκρατίων , ὁ Βαλέριος χρηματίσας, ῥήτωρ, Ἀλεξανδρεύς. Λέξεις τῶν δέκα ῥητόρων, Ἀνθηρῶν συναγωγήν.

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